1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wireless Internet and particularly to Wireless Community Networks (WCNs). More specifically, bundled hotspots are offered to users in a WCN by a model that provides multi-day bundles and multi-day groupings of single hotspots in a manner that gives equitable allocations of revenue from the bundles to the bundle participants, as well as allowing hotspot and hotspot bundle prices to depend on the speed of the connection/capacity of the router, which may in turn depend on the usage level of the router.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless Internet accessibility has been gaining popularity since its inception. Today, big stores to small shops offer wireless Internet connectivity for their customers through 802.11 Wireless LAN Technology. Shops or venues that offer such facility for a customer or a visitor who can use a laptop, WiFi Phone, or other suitable portable device to access the internet are called “wireless hotspots” (or synonymously hotspots).
FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a map 100 of available hotspots (e.g., 101, 102, 103) in New York City Manhattan.
There are two categories of hotspots: free hotspots, wherein any visitor to this hotspot can access internet free of charge using a WiFi device; and, paid hotspots, wherein any visitor to this hotspot has to pay through credit card or bank accounts or third party services (e.g., Paypal®) to access internet. Access charges are generally flat for 24 hrs. Some places also have hourly charges. The present invention addresses the category involving paid use of hotspots.
More particularly, the present invention addresses the paid use of so-called Wireless Community Networks (WCNs), which are groupings of individuals of which some have a router that is connected to the internet. Through the use of specialized software on the router, other individuals may connect to the router-owner's router and use some of that individual's bandwidth to connect to the internet. While there are some efforts to have free WCN, there is a growing community that subscribes to a paid service which organizes and provides additional services to the WCN.
Thus, a Wireless Community Network (WCN) is an organization of individuals that group together to have wider access to internet hotspots. WCN enables even individuals to become hotspot providers through the use of specialized routers and software that enables other individuals to access their routers. As mentioned, in some cases, this is a benevolent or free service, such as provided to a group of friends or members of an organization. In other cases, it is operated by a for-profit company, wherein the company sells the routers and software to the individuals so that, when a “visitor” accesses one of the individuals' routers seeking an access point to the internet, the company charges a usage fee. The owner of the router gets a fraction (such as 50%) of the usage fee while the company gets the rest.
A limitation of the technology used in these instances is that, each time a “visitor” accesses such a hotspot, the user is required to pay a new usage fee, most likely getting the service from a different router owner. In urban areas, where this technology is most developed and most appropriate, a user may wish to access more than one such hotspot and a new payment each time is both cumbersome and excessive. This is particularly true with handheld devices used, for example, while an individual is walking.
The paradigm is as follows: when a visitor arrives in the vicinity of a router using the specialized software, he/she is presented with the possibility to log on, for a fee, to one of the hotspots. Once the fee is paid, the user may access the internet from the prescribed point. Later, the fee is shared 50%-50% between the WCN organizing company and the router owner.
An important point to remember is that Internet Service Provider, in some cases, act as WCN Company, but a non-Internet-Service-Providing Company may also act as a WCN organization. There are many companies that are currently pursuing such business model. One such WCN organizing company is FON (e.g., see www.fon.com).
The problem being addressed by the present invention is that each customer visits a hotspot and pays for the Internet access on a per-day or per-hour basis. Customers must therefore pay for multiple locations, even if they are closely located. This prohibits the customer from moving around a geographic center. In particular, if a user is on a handheld device and wishes to move in a larger geographic area than that covered by the particular hotspot, he/she may need to pay two or more times for the single usage session, even if the hotspots are closely located. This aspect, of course, prohibits a customer from freely moving around a geographic center without having to pay multiple user fees.
Use of revenue sharing in WCN is growing, with companies such as FON receiving backing from Skype and Google. However, the paradigm is limited for the above reason, and because the revenue sharing as practiced today does not support bundled offerings of independently-owned routers. Clearly, that is an impediment to further growth of the paid WCN paradigm. In particular, the revenue sharing approach as practiced today does not support bundled offerings of independently owned routers.
Thus a need exists for improving the capabilities of WCN services.